Ragnarok

Did anyone encounter any trouble swiping the Sapphire Preferred card?

I've encountered a parking meter and two different McDonalds store's card reader simply cannot read the card.

I and the cashier tried different ways and it's always card error.

The parking reader and the McDonalds are fine reading any of my other cards.

The Sapphire Preferred is also fine at someother places.

I gave Chase a call and their rep says due to the material of the card, some older card readers might have trouble reading the card.

So, I am wondering, did anyone encounter any trouble swiping the Sapphire Preferred card?

mia

The fact that a frontline Chase CSR knew about the problem confirms that others have experienced it.

kb_rembrandt

I've been having this issue for a while, but Chase never seemed to know anything about it when I contacted them. Train stations, gas pumps, Home Depot are all places that the card hasn't been readable recently. Does this mean that Chase will have to redo the design of the card? I personally would give up the unique weight and feel to have something that works all the time.

beltway

OP, it might help to clarify whether you have the new funky card (metal with no embossing in plastic sheath) or a standard plastic card w/embossed numbers. My SP, issued a year ago, is the latter and has had no swipe failures. As cool as the new card looks, I'm glad I never bothered to ask Chase to send me a new one.

Ragnarok

While someone did mention that he is having problem using the card oversees where they still rely on imprinters, no one to date has really mentioned about not able to swipe it, in the US.

Looks like there is quite are few places that the Sapphire Preferred metal card is having trouble at then.

The Chase rep says it could be because of old card readers, but the card readers at McDonalds are NFC enabled with PayPass, Paywave and Express Pay support, I doubt they are old.

--
Update:

Just found this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...centurion.html

Looks like AMEX Centurion holders encounter similar issues.

dw

I've had the metal Sapphire Preferred for a few months now and never had any problems. However, I was issued a replacement card (also of the newer metal design) last week due to my number being skimmed, and now the card will not swipe at some of the same establishments I never had problems with before. One in particular is a fairly new chain location, so I doubt they are using older card readers.

sdsearch

Maybe their TV ad is accurate, and they're spray-painting the cards???

Palaimo

I was on a flight trying to buy a drink and the FA could not get my Sapphire Preferred to work. I was happy my SPG Amex worked w.o. a hitch.

danielonn

What if I was at the parking garage and all I had was my Credit Card? I could tell them I was not prepared with cash. They say we do not accept the Black Amex Card. Then I would ask the agent to enter it manually which can be done. Duh it doesn't take a rocket scientist to enter it manually.

TimesTwo

I've definitely had problems at gas pumps bc it's so thick.

tkhattabaugh

Nope, no problems with mine. I've had a lot of wait staff tell me "oh, this card is heavy" but never a problem swiping it. For some reason, my Amex Plat doesn't do well with the card reader on DL flights when I buy food/drinks. Sometimes they have to swipe it several times before it reads.

Ragnarok

I am now able to swipe it at McDonalds card readers now.
I got it working by swiping slower.

Haven't have the chance to try a parking meter though.

As for gas stations, I have a better card to use for gas, so I haven't try it also.

No problem at any other POS machines so far.

The_Wrath_of_Khan

This card simply doesn't work in numerous Japanese POS machines and notably will not work in any NEXCO expressway payment boxes. I thought it was because the card was metal, if you ask Chase will send you a completely lame, standard, plastic, embossed version of the card. Problem is it still has something goofy with the magnetic strip and while I have not had any problems with it since ditching the metal version in Japanese PoS machines, the plastic version still refuses to work on the expressway. I'm loosing out on thousands of x2 points for travel in tolls each month thanks to this thing not working. I asked that a trouble ticket be submitted, but I was probably ignored. My Chase UA and Hyatt cards all work fine and they have a more traditional magnetic strip.

I went through 3 metal cards before I switched to the plastic. Each would work in all machines and then slowly stop working until they wouldn't work in any Japanese infox/etc POS machines. So frustrating. Even worse is that since Japanese people almost never use credit cards no one knows how and/or is unauthorized to manually enter a credit card number. I literally met the first Japanese person in my entire life on a recent hotel stay that knew how to manually enter a card, but it still didn't work.

The_Wrath_of_Khan

That's what she said.

toomanybooks

I have had a few trouble swipes with the Sapphire. They have to enter numbers manually.

And OP, there is a beer named after you:

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/three-f...gnarok/142709/